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EARLY DAYS 



THE CONNECTICUT VALLEY 



ALICE M. WALKER 



ILLUSTRATIONS AND COVER DESIGN 

BY 

MISS MARTHA GENUNG 



AMHERST MASS. 
1901 



Gift 
Publisber 

U Ja '06 



Early Days in The Connecticut 
Valley. 



FAR up among the hills of northern New Hampshire 
rises the river called by the primitive dwellers 
upon its banks, "Quonektacut ". Beside its shining 
waters have been built the many thriving villages and 
cities, centers of industry, whose wheels and spindles 
turn, year after year, as they are driven by its ceaseless 
flow. Although more than two centuries have passed 
since the Indian built his wigwam and planted his corn 
where now we see the college and the church, the links 
of association which bind us to those former days are as 
enduring as our everlasting hills, and with them will for- 
ever serve as a reminder to future generations of the 
price paid by those old time fathers for the beautiful 
valley in which their descendants delight to dwell. 

The Puritans in Plymouth had heard from the Dutch 
of the fertile lands along the Connecticut river, and when, 
in the words of Cotton Mather, " The Massachusetts 
colony was become like a hive overstocked with bees, 
and many of the inhabitants entertained thoughts of 



4 Early Days in the 

swarming into plantations extended further into the 
country," the fame of this " long, fresh, rich river, a 
little Nilus," attracted the attention of the people of 
Roxbury, and led them, having dispatched their goods by 
water in Governor Winthrop's vessel, to start on foot, 
through a pathless forest, for some " convenient spot," 
which they might call their home. 

No record of that journey has been found. We only 
know that about the first of May, 1636, standing upon an 
elevation in the territory known as Agawam, this band of 
weary pilgrims first gazed upon the "famous river" 
toward which they had been traveling, through a hun- 
dred miles of wilderness. The western hills were forest 
crowned as now, the silent stream unbridged. No homes 
were opened to receive the wanderers, and only the voice 
of Nature bade them welcome. How fair the scene to 
those who then beheld it after the toilsome journey, we 
can but imagine ! Lovely it is to day, in spite of seams 
and scars inflicted by the rude hand of man. But in 
addition to the charms of mountain and plain, of peace- 
ful river and wooded Hampshire hills, to that little com- 
pany in those early days the valley of the Connecticut 
represented home and freedom, to gain which they had 
fled across the seas. We know but little about these 
pioneers, except perhaps their names. They were too 
much occupied in getting a living to make many records 
of their feelings and impressions, for when we do find 



Connecticut Valley. 5 

some ancient diary, or yellow, time stained letter, it is too 
apt to tell us of things material, and not enough of the 
thoughts and emotions which lay behind the valiant 
deeds of those heroic days. From history we learn that 
within a week allotments of land were made to heads of 
families, and that before another winter they were housed 
and fairly settled on their fertile farms, each settler being 
allowed a " house lott," a proportion of the " cow pasture 
to the north of End Brooke," and a " share of the 
hasseky marish over against his lott." 

For many years the people of New England cared 
little for the habits and customs of the early settlers, to 
whose self sacrificing efforts we of to-day owe all that we 
have and are. If the children of fifty years ago had not 
despised the tales which their elders would willingly have 
told them, how much of historical interest would have 
been preserved, which is to-day entirely forgotten ! But 
we of this generation are wiser than they. We love the 
straight backed chair, the tall old clock, the sampler 
worked by that little Puritan maiden from whom we are 
proud to have descended. We love each dim tradition, 
by whose magic power the present and the past are 
linked together, and eagerly treasure such relics as have 
not been swept beyond our reach, as the years have 
rolled by and those whose memories could have aided 
us have become forever silent. 

For seventeen years the settlement in Agawam grew 



6 Early Days in the 

and the inhabitants prospered, changing its name to 
Springfield, building a tavern and a meeting house, and 
living in small thatched dwellings along the west side of 
Main street, the only street in town. The more preten- 
tious brick residence of " Goodman Pynchon " was called 
the fort, being fortified against surprise by Indians, 
and upon its ancient site has recently been placed a tablet 
which announces to the passer by that on this spot dwelt 
" Major William Pynchon, leader of the first settlers of 
Springfield." 

The "Great Falls" at South Hadley were for many 
years an obstacle sufficient to prevent any settlement 
above them, because all supplies were received and all pro- 
duce shipped upon the river. In 1653, however, an enter- 
prising company from Hartford and Windsor gained 
from the general court a " plantation at Nonatuck from 
the little meadow called Capawonke down to the head of 
the falls." Five years later the lands opposite, on the east 
side were settled, and the infant town was named Had- 
ley, from a village in old England. Thus the little ham- 
lets of Springfield, Hadley and Northampton were 
planted on the banks of Cotton Mather's "famous river," 
and the settlement of the Connecticut valley became an 
established fact. 

For more than a century the life of every citizen of 
New England was spent upon the farm, so that the 
history of the valley towns was, in effect, the history of 



Connecticut Valley. y 

the Puritan farmer, who stands before us, a strange 
and unique figure. Not merely to gain reHgious freedom 
did the early colonist brave the terrors of sea and 
wilderness, but also to improve his social and economic 
condition. On reaching America, he had everything to 
learn. New plants, an untried soil, an unknown 
climate, savage beasts of the forest and treacherous 
foes in human form, these he had to understand and 
conquer before a mere livelihood could be gained for 
himself and his family. 

The farmer's dwelling in the valley towns at that early 
period in their history was of the rudest possible descrip- 
tion, often built of logs, with floors of beaten clay or later 
of uneven planks covered each day with fresh white 
sand gathered on the river banks. This house con-' 
tained two rooms, a kitchen and a bedroom, with win- 
dows of oiled paper, and in the former a high deep fire- 
place, the spot whence issued things essential to bodily 
comfort, the true center of the farmer's home. Above Y 
the massive back-log was suspended crane, jack-spit and 
pot-hook, while on the embers bake-kettle and frying- j 
pan did substantial service. Sections of huge logs, set ' 
up in the chimney corner, were used as seats by the 
younger members of the family, and the high straight 
back of the hard wooden settle formed a partial protec- 
tion for the elders from continuous draughts sweeping in 
around ill fitting windows and doors. 



8 Early Days in the 

Extended upon trestles in the middle of the room was 
a long narrow board taken from a packing box : this, 
covered with what was called a " board cloth," served as 
a dining table. Blocks of wood, hollowed in the center 
into a sort of bowl, and styled "trenchers," did duty as 
plates, one such being used by two or three persons. 
Only one drinking mug was considered necessary for a 
table full of Springfield people in those early days, and, 
when a Dutch-bred lady insisted upon having her own 
mug, great was the outcry against her extravagance. 

The beams and ceiling of that old time kitchen were 
decorated with suspended squashes, ears of corn and 
flitches of meat. Light was furnished, first by knots of 
candlewood, and afterward by a candle set in the can- 
dlestick with long back hung against the wall. Out 
of doors, fantastic figures flickered on the snow through 
the marvellous perforations of the queer tin lantern, car- 
ried by the " Goodman," as he went about his everlast- 
ing " chores." 

Having built and furnished his log house, the valley 
farmer proceeded to get for himself a wife. Scorning to 
steal his bride, as the manner of some was said to be, he 
gave a party to his friends, prolonging the festivities for 
several days. In this manner the girl of sixteen and 
her husband of twenty laid the foundation for one 
more New England home, for the furnishing of which 
the bride brought, as dower, many articles unknown to 



Coujieciictit Valley. g 

us of to-day. One maid of Westfield was given by her 
father as her "setting out portion," " 25 lbs. feathers, 7 
yds bed ticking, a pillion and cloth, brass and iron pots 
and kettles, a wheel and a cap," and another added to 
her husband's store of furniture "a pair of andirons, a 
cow, and a warming pan." 

Thus fitted out for housekeeping, for many years the 
dwellers by the river in the valley towns lived quietly, 
children coming thick and fast, until the cabin with two 
rooms was full and running over. A line of canoes, fas- 
tened to stakes along the shore, danced up and down on 
the rippling current of the broad and shallow stream ; 
and paddling home in one of these, with a load of hay 
from the meadows, or of vegetables from his outlying 
" lott," the farmer brought for supper a shad taken in 
his net, disdaining utterly the salmon so easily caught, 
which was called by the settlers "Agawam Pork," and 
thrown back into the water as useless. The farmer's 
wife, in straight short gown and petticoat and enormous 
frilled white cap, trudged back and forth in clumsy 
leather shoes, as she broiled the fish over the glowing 
coals. After a long and fervent grace, the family ate in 
peace and slept the sleep of the weary. The baby was 
tucked away in a cradle made from a log, and older chil- 
dren were packed side by side in the ever present trundle 
bed, while big boys lay close in the attic to keep from 
freezing, and woke to find the snow piled in a miniature 
drift upon their beds. 



10 Early Days in the 

T his primitive way of living seems to have been 
conducive to length of years, for we find recorded 
instances of extreme old age among the early settlers in 
the valley. A case is known of the birth of a child who 
had fourteen living grandfathers and grandmothers. A 
native of Shutesbury, up on the hill, Ephraim Pratt, born 
in 1687, grandson of John Pratt who came over in the 
Mayflower, died in 1801, aged 114. At the time when 
Captain Eli Parker of Amherst married Mrs. Abigail Lyon 
of Colrain, the pair had between them eighteen chil- 
dren, one hundred and seven grandchildren, and forty- 
one great-grandchildren. Had these numerous children 
not been subject to the stern law which governed the 
Puritan in the smallest detail of conduct, life among 
them might have been somewhat difficult, especially at 
the advanced age of one hundred and fourteen years ; 
but the youth of olden time were taught to be " seen and 
not heard," to stop and bow or courtesy when meeting 
an aged person on the street, never to answer back, and 
to rise when older people entered the room. 

That these venerable folk did not live by faith alone is 
illustrated by the case of Mr. John Weeks, who died at 
the age of 114, having married, when 106, his tenth wife, 
a girl of sixteen. His grey hairs were covered by a dark 
curly wig, and a new set of teeth enabled him, a few 
hours before his death, to eat two or three pounds of 
pork, the same of bread, and to drink a pint of wine. 



Con7tecticut Valley. ii 

He may have been the disconsolate father in Israel, who, 
in 17S8, advertised thus in the Hanipshire Gazette : 

" I am an old man, my case is quite common, 

I want me a wife, a likely young woman, 

I late had an old one, but three months ago, 

She sickened and died, and left me in woe, 

I cried, had a sermon preached when she was buried, 

Wore my old wig a fortnight, then longed to be married. 

If any one knows where a wife's to be had. 

Such as seventy wishes when wisdom is dead, 

A girl that will warm my old bones in the winter. 

Let him leave the intelligence with 

Mr. Printer." 

At first the Indians of the Connecticut valley were 
peaceably inclined, and the settlers did not fear them. 
When, however, enraged by real and fancied wrongs, and 
inflamed by rum and cider, of which they contrived to 
gain possession, they finally broke into open warfare, the 
farmer hastened to purchase a flint-lock musket, with 
which to defend the home he had struggled so hard 
to establish. The story of those dark and bloody days 
is too well known to need repetition. Each town 
became a fortified inclosure, each church a fort, each 
house an uncertain refuge from a savage and merciless 
foe. When that dark hour had passed and peace was 
again restored, along the river bank lay the remains of 
burned and devastated homes and graveyards filled with 
victims of tomahawk and scalping knife. Now and then 
3 



12 Early Days in the 

a refugee from the long lines of miserable captives, who 
had been led away into the boundless northern woods, 
came straggling back, to tell harrowing tales of torture 
and death. An ancestor of Judge Strong, who built 
the old Strong house in Amherst, was among those who 
thus returned; and such names as Deliverance, Praise 
God, Hope and Preserved recall to-day cases of what the 
Puritans considered direct interposition of Divine Provi- 
dence in behalf of the chosen people of God. Oliver 
Smith of Hatfield and his five brothers must often have 
heard the tale of their grandmother, Canada Wait, born 
in these northern woods, and to the descendants of Cap- 
tivity Jennings, the other girl whose birth is recorded as 
having taken place while her mother was a captive 
among the Indians, her tragic story must have been 
repeated. The treaty of peace was signed, and the 
farmers of the valley towns took up their ordinary avoca- 
tions, each carrying on for himself a variety of indus- 
tries, making his own rough shoes and carts and wagons, 
breaking up the forest soil by means of a plough made 
of three or four pieces of wood rudely joined together 
and sometimes tipped with iron, hoeing corn with the 
shoulder bone of a bear, moose or deer attached to a 
stick, and thrashing out grain by drawing it over a roller 
armed with wooden pins. And, while he worked, he 
pondered on the way best to promote the welfare of those 
two institutions which lay nearest to his heart, the church 



Connecticut Valley. 13 

and the school, the former the exponent of his Puritan 
religion, the latter the place wherein his boys should gain 
the education which a Yankee has always numbered first 
on his list of the necessaries of life. 
' To the founders of our faith, the meeting house was 
the chief object of common interest. Attendance at 
church was enforced by law, and only members of the 
church were allowed to vote. On Sunday morning, at 
the beat of drum in Springfield or in other towns at 
the blowing of " ye kunk," the farmer and his family 
proceeded on their way to the meeting house, where with 
his sons he took his seat on one side of the building, 
while his wife and daughters sat on the other side. 
Every hour, as the sands ran out, the sexton turned the 
brass-bound hour glass which stood upon the pulpit, 
failing however to have any effect upon the two hours of 
preaching and one hour of prayer which were considered 
to be the proper proportion. With guards outside to 
give the alarm in case of approaching Indians, with bags 
drawn over his feet to keep them from freezing, the 
head of the family was mercilessly rapped by the brass 
tipped staff of the tithing man, and the face of his wife 
was tickled by the fox's tail on the other end of the stick, 
at the least suspicion of drowsiness. There seems to 
have been something peculiar about Hadley church, for 
we find this vote of the town recorded : " There shall be 
some sticks set up in the meeting house, with some fit 



/^ Early Days in the 

persons stationed by them, to use the same as occasion 
shall require, to keep the youth from disorder." This 
was the church where Whitefield preached, when his voice, 
it is said, was heard in Hatfield ; and here a bride and 
groom, present at church for the first time after the wed- 
ding, rose from their front seat in the gallery during the 
middle of the service, and slowly turning round, displayed 
to advantage his velvet coat, lace trimmed shirt and white 
broadcloth knee breeches, and her peach colored silk 
gown and bonnet adorned with sixteen yards of white 
ribbon, a gorgeous spectacle. 

In 1727 a sober faced young minister was living a stu- 
dent life in old Northampton, devoting thirteen hours a 
day to his books, finding his only recreation in solitar}'' 
walks or rides up and down the river or through the 
forest, carrying with him pen, ink and paper, that no 
valuable thought should be lost or forgotten. Here he 
brought a fair girl, a bride of seventeen, but with a char- 
acter mature beyond her years. Thus began the life 
work of Jonathan Edwards, a man whose terrible earnest- 
ness in the line of belief and argument which his unwav- 
ering will had determined to be for him the path of duty, 
moved the religious thought and feeling of America and 
of the world. The power of this man's personality made 
itself felt upon his hearers from the first. His gestures 
were few, as standing erect before his people, with pierc- 
ing eyes seeing the invisible, he delivered a message sent 
from God. 



Connecticut Valley. 75 

Marvelous stories are told of what followed when 
those stern eyes were turned upon the congregation, and 
his pale lips- pronounced those burning words which even 
to-day move the world. A dark and somber mood marked 
the opening of the eighteenth century in New England. 
Questions such as these, " In what lies the unpardon- 
able sin ?" " Is a man never justified in thinking that 
he has signed away the day of grace Y' occupied the 
minds of the thoughtful. Under these circumstances 
Jonathan Edwards, appearing in a Boston pulpit with a 
sermon entitled " God glorified in man's dependence," 
produced a profound impression. From this time 
the young Northampton theologian was a marked 
man. Edwards preached, and people listened, — were 
compelled to listen in spite of themselves, and were 
thrilled by the fervor of this man who, with a power 
which lingers yet around the printed page, described the 
condition of the unrepentant sinner. Edwards preached 
and crowds were thrown into agonies of terror. The 
time of the " Great awakening" had come ; a revival 
such as had never before been known shook all New 
England, and reaching abroad, gave form to ideas 
already fermenting in the mind of John Wesley. 

When, at the age of forty-seven, after twenty-three 
years of faithful service, this greatest of New England 
preachers was constrained by obedience to conscience to 
betake himself and family to the Indian settlement of 



1 6 Early Days in the 

Stockbridge, there to deliver in a language unknown to 
the aborigines the message of the Gospel, and in his 
leisure hours to write those famous treatises on the "Free- 
dom of the Will," and " Original Sin," his consecrated 
spirit and tremendous personality had already stamped 
itself upon the place, where it lingers to-day about the 
church he loved and the beautiful valley in which he 
delighted to dwell. 

"The Rev'd Clergy," of those days were considered to 
be teachers sent from heaven, and their power among their 
people was almost unlimited. They were mostly men of 
sterling character and narrowest Puritan theological 
belief, who preached their religion of fire and brimstone 
in such a manner as to keep their hearers warm without 
aid from outside sources. And yet some reprobates in 
the congregation were subject to that drowsiness so prev- 
alent to-day, for one discouraged divine of olden time 
in closing a long article entitled, " Observations on 
sleeping in time of Divine Service," writes: " Minis- 
ters have tried a number of methods to rid our assem- 
blies of this odious practice. Some have reasoned, some 
have spoke louder, some have whispered, some have 
threatened to name the sleeper. The destruction of the 
habit belongs to the sleeper himself, and if neither 
reason or religion can excite him, why he must sleep on, 
till death and judgment awake him." 

The people of Deerfield in i6S6 strongly desired Mr. 



Connecticut Valley. i'/ 

John Williams for their minister. They offered him " A 
cow common of pasture, with a home lott on meeting 
house hill, to build him a house 42 feet by 20, with a 
linter on the backside, and furnish the house, to fence 
home lott, and in two years build him a barn, to break 
up his plough land, and give him £60 sallery, and in 4 
or 5 years make it ;^So." Mr. Williams accepted this 
call and later was carried off by the Indians. After his 
return, he preached a very long sermon, which was sold 
by subscription, telling the tale of his capture and 
escape. Dr. Hopkins of Hadley smoked when he made 
his parish visits, and many people kept a long pipe on 
purpose for his use. 

When the gun was fired at Lexington, and up and 
down the valley drums beat to arms, nearly every minis- 
ter was found opposed to revolution. The pastor of 
Amherst church and also that of Shutesbury were vio- 
lent Tories, and so mixed up politics with theology that 
Amherst town meeting voted that " Mr. Hill of Shutes- 
bury shall not be allowed to preach in this town again." 
Mr. Ashley of Deerfield so offended his people by his 
preaching that they nailed up the door of the church. 
Upon his forcing it open with an axe his church members 
solemnly voted " not to furnish him with any wood," thus 
hoping to freeze him out of town. There were troubles 
also in South Hadley church, which voted regarding its 
pastor, a certain Mr. Rawson, " We have no further ser- 



l8 Early Days i7i the 

vice for him in the office of a public minister, and we 
expect that he will refrain from any public act in that 
office among us." He persisted, however, in continuing 
to preach, until a certain Sunday morning, when, enter- 
ing the pulpit and beginning to pray, he was seized by 
the " committee," dragged down and carried out, contin- 
uing his prayer, nevertheless, till his mouth was stopped 
with a handkerchief. Thus it seems that even the 
*• Rev'd Clergy," lost their sanctity when they did not 
conform to the unyielding will of the people upon whom 
they were dependent for their " salleries." 

The thirst of the Puritan for education is proverbial. 
It has been said of him that, if cast away upon a desert 
island, he would first make a spelling book, and then 
seek the wherewithal to satisfy his hunger. The meeting 
house and the school, in his opinion, ought to and often 
did stand side by side, but the idea of free schools did 
not at first enter his mind. In i6Si the town of Hat- 
field voted " to allow £-i^o for an able and faithful school 
master to teach the children to read and write, the ^30 
to be raised as follows : all boys in the town from 6 to 12 
employed in reading to pay 12 pence per year, whether 
they are sent to school or not, those who write to pay 
i6d per year per head: all others of whatsoever age at 
the same rate. If this does not make ^30, the rest to be 
raised by a rate, the whole to be paid, \ wheat, \ peas, \ 
Indian corn, at current prices." 



Connecticict Valley. ig 

In those days "children," evidently meant boys, for 
much schooling for girls was not considered necessary, 
perhaps because of their extreme precocity. One remark- 
able infant of four years, living in the old Colonial house 
now owned by Bishop Huntington, was found alone in a 
room, repeating aloud a hymn beginning with this 
stanza : 

" Lord, if Thou lengthen out many days, 
Then shall my heart so fixed be. 
That I may lengthen out thy praise, 
And never turn aside from Thee." 

Her prayer was evidently answered, for at the age of 
fifty years, more practical grown, she recorded in a diary 
which she kept for nearly half a century, " Took physic, 
and consulted the family physician, all to no purpose. 
Suspected the disorder to be nervous, faced about, put on 
great resolution, and made mince-pies, and found 
myself no worse than before." We know not who may 
have been this physician of whom she speaks, or what 
the " physic " she took. For some diseases a medicine 
made from rattlesnakes was used, and dock leaf cooked 
into a poultice was a certain cure for cancer, while a 
powder made from chickweed was a sure preventive of 
hydrophobia. Brimstone water would have cured the 
gout, and fermented mare's milk the consumption, while 
for small pox she could have gone to Peter Bryant's hos- 
pital, up on Cummington hill. But a mere attack of 
4 



20 Early Days in the 

"nerves" was a malady unknown, and doubtless the 
mince-pie remedy employed suited the case. Some 
tonic, aided by "great resolution," enabled our Colonial 
dame to ride on horseback to the top of Mt. Holyoke, 
when over sixty years of age. Just where she gained the 
education which enabled her to keep the diary so inter- 
esting to us to-day she does not tell. Possibly she 
attended the boarding school in Belchertown, which must 
have been the pioneer co-educational institution in the 
valley, for in 1789 a certain Dr. Howe and Dr. Scott, 
residents of Belchertown, advertised : " Young gentle- 
men and ladies may be instructed in English, Latin and 
Greek, and other parts of education and literature, by a 
young gentleman of liberal education and good charac- 
ter, on as reasonable terms as anywhere in this country." 
That the girls of that period appreciated their rare 
advantages is proved by extracts from an essay written 
by a "young lady of fifteen on leaving an academy." 
This sorrowful damsel bids farewell to her " lovely and 
dear companions," asserts that " the road to learning is 
planted with every flower which perhaps it is possible for 
academic ground to nurse," bids adieu to her "aimiable 
and beloved tutoresses," and declares of the "dear Dic- 
tator of this infant academy and his devoted lady, that 
their friendly images are too deeply engraved upon the 
tablets of our hearts for time to erase." How pleasant 
must have been the task of those "beloved tutoresses," 



Connecticut Valley. 21 

and of that "dear Dictator," the teacher of the present 
day can hardly imagine. Whether the boys appreciated 
their advantages as did this young lady we do not know, 
but we do know that they were obliged to go to school, 
and that their fathers were constrained to send them. In 
1667 " Goodman Granger was presented in Hampshire 
County court for the neglect of learning his children to 
read," 

No special superintendent or school committee was 
elected for the schools of that early day, but the select- 
men of the town were required to act as school visitors, 
and to have a constant supervision over teachers and 
pupils. In these schools the scholars learned, while 
very young " Reading, Writing, Arithmetic, and Man- 
ners." The text books for the first named study were 
"The Little Reader's Accidence," by Noah Webster, and 
*' The American Selection of Lessons in Reading and 
Speaking," by the same distinguished author, who sagely 
advises in his preface to the latter : " Begin with the 
infant in his cradle — Let the first word he lisps be 
Washington." 

We smile at the thought of the unfortunate " infant" 
whose first lisp should be a word of three syllables, but 
this advice of Webster was an indication of the feeling 
prevalent in the valley towns, in common with that which 
pervaded the whole land. Washington was the country's 
hero, and his very name was revered and loved before 



22 Early Days in the 

that of any other. When the great general, inaugurated 
first President of the Republic, made his progress 
through Massachusetts to Boston in 1789, the road in all 
the country towns was lined with loyal citizens. A boy 
in West Springfield, who was was helping a farmer gather 
a load of corn stalks on the river bank, and who was after- 
wards for sixty years pastor of the Congregational church 
in Monson, tells how the coach and four fine horses were 
stopped in the road by the loaded cart, and that the 
driver, on being informed that President Washington was 
in the chariot, said " he had as good a right to the road 
as George Washington." This being reported, the gen- 
eral calmly said, " And so he has," and waited until the 
knight of the cornstalks reached his own door yard. 
This conciliatory disposition of the new president at 
once disarmed those who were on their guard lest a royal 
court should be set up in free America, but he whose soft 
answer thus turned away wrath knew also how to main- 
tain the 'dignity of the office to which he had been 
chosen. On Washington's arrival in Boston, Governor 
Hancock, crippled with rheumatism, sent word for him 
to " come up," which the President refused to do, main- 
taining that it was the place of the governor of a state 
to seek the presence of the chief executive of the whole 
United States. The doughty governor was obliged to 
concede the point, and was carried in the arms of his 
servants down the stairs to meet his distinguished guest. 



Connecticut Valley. 23 

The citizens of Boston greeted Washington with every 
kind of ovation and ceremony; long sermons were 
preached and more lengthy odes were sung, the senti- 
ment of which appears in the following : 

" Great Washington, the hero's come, 
Each heart exulting hears the sound, 
Thousands to their deUverer throng. 
And shout the welcome all around. 

Chorus.— Now in full chorus join the song, 

And shout aloud— Great Washington." 

The papers were full of his visit, how he looked, what 
he said and did; and after his departure, for many 
years, the room in which he slept, the glass out of which 
he drank, and any article which he used, were held as 
sacred by their owners, and are found to-day preserved 
by their descendants. 

The self possession of the man who had guided the 
country safely through the Revolution contrasted him 
with the impetuous, effervescent Frenchman, whose influ- 
ence on the public was greatly dreaded by many level- 
headed statesmen, and of all his characteristics appealed 
most strongly to the reticent Yankee, who was a man 
of deeds and not of words. At the time when the 
country was wrought to the highest pitch over the arrival 
of Genet, one of our local poets sent the following verses 
to his newspaper : — 



24 Early Days in the . 

"SIGNS OF THE TIMES," 
" Let wild enthusiasts rush in throngs, 

And madly rend the hurried air, 
With boisterous toasts and hiccuped songs, 

The honors of Genet declare. 

Our decent farmers, wiser far, 

Bless him who gave these halcyon days, 

And, calm as Washington in war, 
In sober silence muse his praise." 

When the melancholy news of their hero's death was 
received by the people of Northampton, the bells were 
tolled two hours, solemn services were held in all the 
churches, and the mourning continued for years. The loyal 
hearts of old New England could not forget his virtues, 
and tongues never tired of singing his praise. In 1802 a 
Commemorative Ode was printed, the first verse of which 
illustrates the sentiments of many that follow : 

" Slowly strike the solemn sound. 
Drop the pearls of sorrow round, 
Let the stabs of woe be felt. 
Let the heart of iron melt, 
Maidens, pour the plaintive verse. 
Soldiers, now your arms reverse, 
Patriots — mourn the patriot dead, 
Sigh the globe for virtue fled." 

What were called " Washington Benevolent Societies " 
were formed in all the country towns, and the love and 
veneration felt for the first president by the dwellers 



Connecticut Valley. 2^ 

along the river was in striking contrast to the general 
dislike of these outspoken farmers for Jefferson, Madison 
and Adams. This dislike was shown strongly at the tre- 
mendous Fourth of July celebrations held in those days, 
in the valley towns, when the " Rev'd Clergy," headed 
the processions and delivered long " appropriate dis- 
courses," while toasts corresponding in number to the 
states in the Union were drunk, worded in no uncertain 
language. In Northampton, in 1802, these toasts were 
offered: to Adams — " The president, economizing in milles, 
spending in eagles, and feeding the mouth of labor with 
honied speech ;" and to the vice-president, " Aaron's rod 
shall neither bud nor blossom more." On the same day at 
Amherst was given the sentiment : " The Executive — may 
it guard against foreign intrigues, and the flattering 
smiles of deception." The Amherst people took no 
notice of the vice-president at all. 

Long after Washington's death we find it recorded in 
Northampton: "The inhabitants of this town, together 
with a number of respectable citizens from the neighboring 
towns assembled in this place, for the purpose of paying 
a tribute to the memory of their common parent and 
benefactor, General George Washington." Thus in a 
union celebration of all the country round, the valley 
patriots honored his memory and mourned his loss. 

For many years the gently flowing river was the one 
means of communication for the country towns. Soon 



26 Early Days i7i the 

after the settlement of Springfield, as Holland tells us, 
a fleet of fifty canoes, laden with corn, and propelled by 
the red man's oar, passed silently from Deerfield down 
the placid stream, " such a fleet as the waters of the 
Connecticut never bore before, shall never bear again." 
" It was a scene for a painter, as those crouching dusky 
forms bent to theii labor, an embassy of relief to save 
the lives of the starving settlers many miles below." 

Years after this, two men named Pynchon carried 
grain from Hadley to Hartford in boats of three or four 
tons. Daniel Lombard in Springfield and Colonel Whit- 
more at Sunderland each sold " plaister of paris," deliv- 
ering up or down the river as the case might be. White 
sand was brought from Pelham in ox carts, and loaded 
on great flat boats, at North Hadley, whence it was car- 
ried down the stream, that the house wives might have a 
covering for their floors superior to that furnished by the 
sand from the river banks. 

In early days Hartford was a great metropolis, 
through which passed the freight of all this valley. 
From the head waters of the stream the river men 
came down, a rough and boisterous crowd, in simple box- 
like barges with no keel, and one square mainsail. 
With stout oars and poles these boats were propelled 
southward, passing by means of the locks and canals 
the " Great Falls " at South Hadley and Willimansett, 
and then, guided by a special pilot, plunged down 



Co2inecticut Valley. 2'/ 

through Enfield rapids. Sometimes as many as twenty- 
five of these flat-bottomed boats started from Hartford 
up the stream, destined for points as far north as the 
White River, taking a week to make the trip, and having 
special aid from men stationed at each of the falls for the 
purpose. To move these boats, loaded with produce, 
was the hardest of hard work, and the early inhabitants 
of the valley towns rejoiced when it was voted that 
" Samuel Dickinson of Hatfield join with men from 
Northampton and Hadley, to lay out a way to the BaX 
for horses and carts, if possible." 

To those men of determined will all things were pos- 
sible, and not only the " Bay Path," formerly but an 
Indian trail, but also roads along the river were widened and 
made smooth enough for vehicles. The farmers of this 
region were making great strides in the practical science 
of Agriculture, and each farm was an experiment station, 
on the products of which depended the existence of its 
owner. He had learned one way of making butter, 
according to which the cows should be milked three 
times a day, and to the butter after churning, was added 
" A mixture of sugar, nitre, and Spanish salt." Of the 
process an old writer says : " This butter does not taste 
well till it has stood at least a fortnight, after which it 
eats with a rich marrowy taste, and is fit to be sent to the 
East and West Indies." Whether it was fit to be kept at 
home, the writer does not state. 



28 Early Days in the 

About this time the canker worm was eating up the 
apple trees, and the state of Massachusetts offered $150 
to any one who would give a history of the pest, and 
$100 more if he would devise a method of destroying it. 
Anything affecting their cider touched also the farmers' 
hearts and their pocket books. With enthusiasm they 
sang: 

" Oh cyder, better far than spirits, 

I can't do justice to thy merits. 

For the' I feel and know them well, 

Yet they are more than I can tell ; 

Then, e'er thou spread thine influence wider, 

I'll close my song, and echo cyder." 

Besides the problem of the canker worm, the amateur 
entomologist was discussing the question as to whether 
the grasshopper did, or did not, " chew the cud." Much 
interest was also felt in the great discoveries of astron- 
omy. One Mr. Herschel, as it was reported, asserted : 
" There are oceans in the moon, and continents and an 
atmosphere." His sister, " a sprightly, philosophical 
lady," went still further, and declared that "she hoped 
by means of her brother's improvements to have a fair 
view of the country seats of the lunar gentlemen." Soon 
after this, the first named astronomer discovered on the 
moon, "a large edifice, of greater magnitude than St. 
Paul's." These reports from such distinguished authori- 
ties were received and discussed with the utmost sobriety 



Connecticut Valley. 2<^ 

and credulity, but we look in vain for any more minute 
description of those " lunar gentlemen," whose acquaint- 

, ance that " sprightly, philosophical lady, "hoped to make. 
She must have died a disappointed woman. 

In 1787 a newspaper made its appearance in North- 
ampton, and great must have been the joy of the citizens 

I at the first issue of this four page sheet, by which they 
were enabled to express the very decided opinions of 

I their decided minds. This paper was in great demand, 
and up and down the valley and over the hills to Ches- 
terfield, Cummington and Conway, through winter's cold 
and summer's heat, the picturesque post rider took his 
way. The roads in many directions were but rough 
paths through the woods, but the Hampshire Gazette 
became at once one of the necessities of life, and by the 
aid of those fine horses raised among the hills the paper 
was delivered promptly, though the postman, alas, some- 
times had hard work to collect his pay, and the editor, in 
capital letters, emphasized his wish for the immediate 
delivery of the " clean rags," " tow cloth," " salt or flax 
seed," in which, for want of money, subscriptions were to 
be paid. He even had to threaten, for repeatedly there 
appeared this advertisement : " Those who expect to pay 
wood for this paper, are requested to forward it while the 
sleighing continues, or risk collection by attorney." Evi- 
dently the wood was forwarded, for the paper flourished, 
filled with communications from all sorts of persons. 



JO Early Days in the 

"Peter Paragraph," "Judas Iscariot," " Democritus," 
«' Baucis," " A friend to order," " Peter Thrift," and " A 
contented man," wrote voluminous letters, and " Simon 
the Tanner," sent words of wisdom from " Whackum." 

Life, even in the valley at that time, was hard and toil- 
some, and those who dwelt upon the adjoining hills and 
gained their livelihood by raising cattle and horses, read 
in the paper, with longing hearts, items concerning the 
fertile plains and rich soil of the far, unsettled west. 
They heard of a great river, and unlimited farming 
lands waiting to be claimed ; and old Revolutionary sol- 
diers resolved, taking their lives in their hands, to em- 
igrate to the West, in the hope of leaving to their children 
a heritage of more value than rocky hillside farms. 
Around the hearthstone of General Rufus Putnam in the 
town of Rutland, this project was conceived, and through 
the valley, in December, 1788, with wives and children 
and household goods, marched the company called the 
" Ohio Adventurers," led by the valiant general himself. 
Readers of the Gazette followed their fortunes with an 
interest almost breathless, and we to-day scan with a thrill 
of excitement those letters from Marietta, which describe 
the founding of that New England town, the child of Massa- 
chusetts and Connecticut, beyond the bounds of civiliza- 
tion, in the far away wilderness of Ohio. 

For more than a hundred years slavery existed in the 
valley towns, and the masters and mistresses were 



Connecticut Valley. 31 

among the most respected of their citizens. One negro 
man, having been a slave in eleven different families in 
the various towns of the state, and having served in the 
the war by which the colonies were striving to gain their 
liberty, during which time he was sold from one to 
another, at last died a pauper, the town of Winchendon 
being in the act of sueing the town of Hatfield for his 
support at the time of his death. Jinny Cole, the daugh- 
ter of a king in the region of the Congo, and sold to 
Parson Ashley of Deerfield, could not forget her early 
home, and spent the leisure time of seventy years in 
gathering and stringing together all kinds of curiosities 
which she hoped to carry back to Africa, the only heaven 
which she could be brought to imagine. 

From 1775 to 1781, thirteen negroes died in Hadley, 
and the close of the iSth century found few if any slaves 
along the Connecticut river. In Hadley burying ground 
epitaphs such as these, "Our Rose," "Our old Peg," 
" Our little negro Phyllis," and " Our Ralph," showed in 
how much esteem the servants who had passed away 
were held by the families of those whom they had served. 
Joshua Boston, a very dignified Revolutionary hero of 
color, owned by Col. Porter, of Hadley, died at the age 
of seventy-nine, worth to his master ;^2o. Another 
negro, Zebedee, owned by Rev. Mr. Chauncey, is said to 
have climbed upon the weather cock now seen on the 
spire of the old church, and crowed in a manner worthy 



J2 Early Days iri the 

of the bird on which he sat. Many of the race perished 
of homesickness and disease, and slavery itself passed 
away forever from the old Bay state, driven out by the 
cold of the winters and the general spread of the spirit 
of freedom. 

Belief in the supernatural also died a natural death, to 
a certain degree, though for many years wise men read 
in the sky warning of coming events, and had implicit 
faith in signs and omens. In every civilized country the 
practice of witchcraft was made a capital offense, and the 
existence of witches was acknowledged by scholars, pro- 
fessional men and clergymen. Cotton Mather relates 
how Mary Webster of Hadley caused by her machina- 
tions the death of Philip Smith of the same town, and 
cheerfully remarks that " public opinion ran so high 
against her that a number of brisk lads gave disturbance 
to the woman on several occasions." The fact that she 
survived the ordeal of being hung till nearly dead and 
then buried in the snow, was, to her fellow towns- 
men, proof positive of her guilt. Also " a hen came 
down her chimney and got scalded in a pot," and after- 
ward Mary Webster was found suffering from a scald. 
Such things as these were solemnly believed by serious 
people, and as a consequence many innocent persons 
were condemned and put to death. 

Among the valley towns the coming of the 19th cen- 
tury was inaugurated with much discussion and dispute. 



Connecticut Valley, j»o 

After a year of disagreement and uncertainty one of tlie 
numerous poets wliich seemed to spring up in a night 
settled the matter thus : 

"Precisely twelve o'clock last night, 

The i8th century took its flight, 

Full many a calculating head, 

Has racked its brains, its ink has shed. 

To prove by metaphysics fine, 

A hundred means but ninety-nine. 

While at their wisdom others wondered. 

But took one more to make a hundred. 

Thus by an unexampled riddle, 

The world's divided in the middle. 

The Century, waking from its bed. 

Finds half mankind a year ahead, 

While t'other half, with lingering face. 

Has scarcely started in the race." 
For many years the history of the social life of the 
meadow city, and of its public meetings and organiza- 
tions was identified with the history of Asahel Pomeroy's 
tavern. Mr. Trumbull, in the second volume of the his- 
tory of Northampton, yet unpublished, says : " One of the 
most famous public houses of the present century in 
Northampton was what is known to the present genera- 
tion as the ' Warner house.' It stood on the site of the 
present Mansion House. A public house has been 
located on the spot for more than a hundred years." 
" Medad Pomeroy was its first owner and inn-keeper. 
He was licensed to keep an 'ordinary," in 1700, and 



^A Early Days in the 

since that time a hotel has been kept on this location. 
It descended to his son, Col. Seth, who gave it to his son 
Asahel 1788. In 1791 the house, together with the 
adjoining house of Col. William Lyman, was burned. 
The next year Asahel Pomeroy rebuilt it, and undoubt- 
edly adapted it especially to the use for which he 
intended it." 

Near this famous tavern stood the pillory, confined in 
which the unprotected heads of criminals furnished fair 
targets for the bad boys of the neighborhood. Sometimes 
the offender was whipped at William Lyman's sign post 
next door, or was made to sit upon the gallows erected 
by the elm trees below the town hall. These sorry spec- 
tacles were often seen from the door of the Pomeroy 
tavern, before the prison was erected. Public branding 
and cropping of the ears also sometimes took place. 
More seldom, we hope, the guests about the tavern bar 
were called by screams and outcries to see a rabble of 
men and boys rush by, carrying a housewife who had 
used her tongue too freely, to give her a ducking in the 
river; and both men and women, for offenses of the 
graver sort, were ridden out of town upon a rail. In 
course of time, near the site of the town hall, a jail was 
built, which was used for a debtor's prison. By all 
accounts it was a place of torture, having cells scarce 
four feet high, into which no ray of light could penetrate. 
This prison was not to be compared with the notorious 



Connectic7it Valley. j^ 

Newgate, in Granby, Conn., where, in little pens of wood, 
from thirty to one hundred victims were confined, their 
feet fast to iron bars, and their necks chained to beams 
in the roof ; yet, from the many notices of prisoners who 
succeeded in escaping from what they termed the 
" goal" we may conclude that it was not desirable for a 
permanent residence. 

But pleasanter sights than prisoners and punishments 
were to be seen in this old "ordinary," kept by Asahel 
Pomeroy. A learned pig, brought from England, and 
worth $1000, was exhibited, "trained to read writing 
and spell, tell the time of day, distinguish colors, and 
do wonderful tricks with cards." Later the notice 
appeared: "The elephant may be seen to-morrow at 
Mr. Asahel Pomeroy's tavern." A dancing school was 
held there every week for several years, and there, no 
doubt, the rustic lads and lasses gained the skill which 
enabled them to ride off through the woods to neighbor- 
ing towns and, on one occasion to execute ninety-two 
jigs, fifty-two contra dances, forty-two minuets and seven- 
teen horn pipes. 

In this old tavern all the local societies had their 
headquarters, and held their weekly or monthly meet- 
ings, and around that bar-room fire the fate of the nation 
was discussed and decided. Here gathered for the very 
first time the " Ohio Adventurers," " to agree upon a 
method of obtaining a draft of the first division of land 



Connecticut Valley, j/ 

belonging to the company," and here the society of the 
" Cincinnati " met in secret session. Here also the 
" Society for detecting thieves and robbers and bringing 
them to punishment " contrived measures for preserving 
the public peace, and the landlord himself sold lottery 
tickets for a hundred different objects. When $1500 was 
drawn by the " Poor Widows of Marblehead," the follow- 
ing "Lines," appeared to celebrate the event: 

" Whence this increate of wealth, what bounteous hand, 
Grants more than sanguine hope could e'en demand ? " 

and continues, 

•' Here let us live as useful as we can, 
Grateful to God, beneficent to man. 
Possess obscure the power of doing good. 
Never so well explained as understood.'' 

Our good Puritan fathers firmly believed in the lottery 
as " designed for the general good by lessening the taxes 
of the people." All of the old covered toll bridges across 
the river were built with money raised by lottery, and 
always before the drawing, the " Rev'd Clergy " offered 
prayer. 

Within these tavern walls Miss Hannah Pomeroy, pre- 
sumably the daughter of the landlord, was married, and 
here also Mr. Jacob McDaniel of Amherst dropped down 
dead. At the Masonic funeral held in the old first 
church on College hill, Rev. David Parsons said: "The 
philanthropy and suavity of Mr. McDaniel's temper, 



j(? Early Days in the 

embellished by an engaging sincerity and affability of 
manners, must embalm his memory in the breasts of 
those who had the happiness of his acquaintance." 

Before those blazing logs in Pomeroy's tavern the 
pompous recruiting officer in his gay uniform, aided by 
the hospitable landlord behind the bar, persuaded the 
farmer's boy to enlist in the army, for the defence of the 
young nation, while up stairs the Hampshire county 
musical society rehearsed each week, in preparation for 
its tour of concerts, which it held from town to town, 
giving as a program in Conway : " Jerusalem," " Rich- 
mond," "Submission," "Zion," " Old Age," "Corona- 
tion," and many other tunes of like character. 

Most of the tunes sung by this organization were found 
in a book of original music, published by Timothy Swan, 
a hatter, who carried on his trade at Northfield, while 
practicing the making of Psalm tunes. The author did 
not think much of the use of sharps and flats, but put in 
a few now and then, " to accommodate the weaker 
brethren." He wrote his earliest music in two parts, 
and was the author of old "China," always performed 
to-day at old folks concerts. 

That the people of Hatfield and Hadley excelled in the 
performance of vocal music we have undeniable proof, 
for in the diary of one " J. Judd," we find the statement, 
concerning a lecture held in Hadley in 1768 : " People 
went over from Hatfield, and among them, J. Judd, Jr. 



Connecticut Valley. jp 

Fine singing, a good sermon, good beef and rich gravy. 
A great multitude in the evening was gathered at the 
singing school. Hatfield singers shined upon anthems. 
Hadley never shined so well — the town was alive and 
appeared with spirit." 

Some of the old time singers had special gifts in musi- 
cal lines. One man, it is said, could sing counter on one 
side of his mouth, and tenor on the other side, at the 
same time. We know not whether this remarkable per- 
former belonged to the musical society of Hampshire 
county. He may, perhaps, have devoted part of his 
talents to instrumental music, and joined the Northamp- 
ton band, which practiced in the tavern, and " shined " 
in public on training days. When the first piano came 
into Northampton, one must have been secured by the 
enterprising inn-keeper, for early in the century " Ladies 
who incline " might " hear of an instructress on 
Instrumental Music, by inquiring at Mr. Pomeroy's 
Inn." We can imagine this prim " Instructress," as 
she taught her pupils " The Battle of Prague," " Love 
Not," or " How can I leave Thee ? " with variations, and 
can almost hear the faint tinkle of that queer, old-fash- 
ioned instrument. Echoes from martial music played by 
that great grandfather of the present Northampton band, 
as it practiced the "Washington March," and the sturdy 
tones of the members of the Hampshire musical associa- 
tion, endeavoring with the assistance of the leader, who 
vigorously beat the time, to 



^0 Early Days i7i the 

" Fly like a youthful hart or roe, 
Over the fields where spices grow," 

mingle to-day with the clang of trolley car and hum and 
bustle of every day life, surging about the Mansion House 
of the present. The very ghosts of those old time singers 
and dancers, those Revolutionary heroes and patriotic 
citizens, must linger round the spot where, for so many 
years, they passed their leisure hours before that hospit- 
able hearthstone. The spirits also of the " Rev'd 
Clergy," who in their " Fall-back " chaises drove from 
Amherst and Hadley and towns along the river, must 
haunt the place, where, in the body, they gathered to 
examine the latest publications kept by Simeon Butler. 
Of him they could procure Beers' Almanac, containing 
" A remedy for the scurvy," " An original receipt for the 
cure of cancer," "The Ladies' New Catachism," "The 
pleasing art of mone3'-getting," besides ''Useful calcula- 
tions." Here also were sold " The Cannibal's Progress, 
or the Dreadful Horrors of French Invasion," "Webster's 
Spelling Book," and his other school books before 
mentioned, and some copies of " Old Harmony," a sing- 
ine: collection for choirs and musical societies. "An 
essay on Christian Baptism, which solves all the 
common doubts on that subject, and in which, it is said, 
are some new sentiments," was offered for sale, and a 
treatise on medicine, from Edinburgh, wdiich contained in 
its preface appeals to every " tender parent " to use its 
marvellous remedies for all known diseases. 



Connecticut Valley. ^fi 

Not many books were written in those days, and most 
publications were sold by subscription. The thought of 
the adoption of authorship as a profession had not yet 
entered the minds of the farmers of the valley towns, and 
the proprietor of this new book store was obliged to 
import his goods at heavy expense. Perhaps this was 
one reason why Simeon Butler, in addition to all the 
latest English and German works, kept also in stock 
" Maccaboid snuff," " Cordial Balm of Gilead," and 
" Anti-Impetigenes," thus offering his customers both 
bodily and mental tonics suited to their tastes and at the 
same time adding to his daily sales. 

A little pamphlet, called " Food for the mind, or a 
New Riddle Book, compiled for the use of the great and 
little good boys and girls, in England, Scotland and Ire- 
land, by John the Giant-Killer, Esq.," was issued in Eng- 
land in 1778. It is probable that its red, yellow and 
blue covers, as well as those of " The Daisy, or Caution- 
ary Stories in Verse," and '• The Cowslip, or More Cau- 
tionary Stories in Verse," were displayed to tempt the 
gaze of the youth of one hundred years ago, in the same 
spot where now the children of their descendants feast 
eager eyes upon the treasures of literature and art in the 
windows of the "Northampton Book Shop, founded 
1787." 

In early days, according to old records, the river over- 
flowed its banks even more widely than it does to-day. 



/^2 Early Days in the 

and one particular freshet, called the " Jefferson Flood," 
greatly interfered with travel. A gay Northampton 
party was said to have rowed from Main street up to the 
Hadley tavern, which stood on the site of the present 
one, and to have tied the boat to the leg of a bar- 
room table, by means of a rope passed through the 
window. During those spring floods, persons who 
desired the latest news were obliged to cross the river in 
canoes, in imminent danger of encounter with floating 
cakes of ice. But the Hadley dame was said to be 
expert upon the water, and no river was wide or turbu- 
lent enough to keep her from the shop where she could 
buy " shalloons, lastings, ratteaus, and tammys," out of 
which to construct her summer wardrobe. We almost 
see her now as, arrayed in calash, or thick pumpkin 
hood, if the weather happened to be cold, she rows across 
the stream to do her weekly shopping, paying in flaxseed 
or yard-wide tow cloth, raised or made by her strong and 
skillful fingers. Her sisters of to-day, riding in luxury 
over the new bridge, are not more healthy or happy than 
were these capable energetic housewives, dependent on 
their own exertions, and equal in themselves to any 
emergency. 

New England people have always found that agitation 
of a subject was a sure way to carry a point. Around 
the tavern fire the best method of preventing the extinc- 
tion of the fur trade by the indiscriminate killing of wild 



Connecticut Vatley, ^j 

animals on the mountain sides, was discussed, also the 
prospect that all the shad and salmon in the river would 
be destroyed. These social meetings of Northampton 
citizens were followed by bills introduced into the Legis- 
lature for the protection of the fur and fishing trade. 
But still more serious troubles agitated the breasts of 
those good Puritan people, in the fact that many inden- 
tured apprentices, whose aid was absolutely necessary to 
the beginning of manufactures and even to the carrying 
on of farms, persisted in running away. These appren- 
tices were of all ages, from boys of twelve to men of 
twenty. We have no record as to their ill treatment, 
though they undoubtedly had to work hard, as did all 
the members of the farmer's family. A man in Belcher- 
town offered a reward of $5 for the return of '-Joseph 
Robbins, a molatto or Indian, sold to me by authority." 
David Pomeroy of Amherst, lost his carpenter appren- 
tice, dressed, at the time of his escape, in a " Pea 
green coat," and would give twenty-five cents for news 
of him. Two apprentices at " Newgloucester," burned 
up their employer's house, and could not be found 
though all the authority of " E. Mattoon " was exer- 
cised in tracing them. Apprentices were always wanted, 
and were frequently advertised as having fled from their 
masters. Rewards were offered for their apprehension, 
I in " bungtown coppers," or "Continental," or " New 
Emission" money. Indeed, a perfect epidemic of run- 



^^^ Early Days in the 

ning away seems to have pervaded the atmosphere along 
the river, for not only apprentices escaped, but cattle 
were always getting out of pastures and eating up the 
nei_ghbors' crops. " A middling sized brindle Ox, bowe 
backed," was driven off from " Hadley great meadow," 
by Eleazar Porter. Time and again, " bug horned 
heifers," and " stears " of various colors, and a " Red 
lined, fat steer, with high, bug horns," were adver- 
tised. It seems that there must have been some trouble 
about the rail fences, or perhaps there was something of 
severity about New England life which affected even the 
cattle in the fields, a tendency to break down barriers, 
and climb over walls, which reached even to the homes. 
The New England housewife of olden time was highly 
respected and honored. John Thompson, in the south 
part of Amherst, when offering to make for her " linen 
wheels," appeals to her thus : " To the industrious Fair : 
She layeth her hands on the spindle and her hands 
hold the distaff." An epitaph on Miss Betsey Fitch, 
reads as follows : 

" Here Betsey lies, let virtue shed, 
A tear for virtue's image dead, 
Letflourets spring, let roses bloom, 
Around the fair Eliza's tomb." 

And yet those " Images of virtue," those mothers in 
Israel, the pillars of the church, the almost saints as we 
have been taught to consider them, they too ran away ; 



Connecticut Valley. ^f.^ 

but whither they ran, we cannot imagine, with no rail- 
roads, and the highways only widened Indian trails. 
We find no reason why they left their homes, only 
the fact, from which we are left to draw our own conclu- 
sions. Perhaps they were getting strong-minded ; for in 
1796 Jenny Dodge carried on the business of a dentist 
in Northampton, and a cook book was advertised by 
Simeon Butler written by a female who styled herself 
" An American Orphan." Perhaps they had to work too 
hard, for Mr. Judd says, " The Hadley women mostly 
worked," and of one family who despised labor, he says, 
they " died poor," Perhaps they became demoralized 
by attending the Northampton theatre, where in 18 14, 
was presented : 

" INKLE AND YARICO 

OR 
LOVE IN A FOREST," 

and thought they would apply the play to real life. As 
to why they ran and whither they ran we know not, but 
that they did run away, we have abundant proof. 

One deserted Shutesbury husband seem.s to have 
looked upon his wife's departure from a humorous point 
of view, since he wrote : 

" Patience, Patience, 

I have no Patience. The woman by this name who 
has lived with me for three years past, has conducted so 



/J.6 Early Days in the 

badly that I can have Patience no longer. I will not pay 
one cent of her contracting, for Patience is gone." 

Another husband writes the following epitaph, which 
he desired should be placed above the grave of his 
deceased consort : 

" Underneath this turf doth lie, 
Back to back, my wife and I, 
Generous stranger, spare the tear, 
For could she speak, I cannot hear. 
Happier far than when in life, 
Free from noise and free from strife. 
When the last trump the air shall fill, 
If she gets up, I'll e'en lie still." 

It is just possible that the sequel to the sentiments 
last expressed may be found in the following, entitled : 

" EPITAPH ON A VIOLENT SCOLD. 
" Beneath this stone a lump of clay 

Lies Arabella Young, 
Who on the twenty-fourth of May, 

Began to hold her tongue." 

A new epoch dawned upon the valley towns when the 
through stage lines were introduced and direct commu- 
nication was given them with the outside world. To 
build a road across the mountains seemed at first 
almost impossible even to the energetic dwellers 
along the Connecticut river. Nathan Patch and Co., 
having succeeded in establishing a route from North- 
ampton to Worcester, and finally extending the same to 



Connecticut Valley. 4^ 

Boston, in 1793 conquered the difficulties in the way, 
so that along the rugged highway toiled four horses, 
dragging the lumbering, swinging, creaking stage- 
coach into Albany village, with passengers and freight 
and mail, stopping always for rest and refreshment at 
Asahel Pomeroy's tavern. The great event for many 
years, to country people far and near, was the arrival of 
the coach, bringing the collected dust and gossip from a 
hundred miles away. The latest news from the south 
and west could now be learned a few days after it hap- 
pened, and political discussions waxed fierce around that 
hospitable fireside. To the orthodox believers of that day, 
an infidel or atheist was supposed to be possessed of 
hoofs and horns and to come straight from the Evil One 
himself. The arrival of Thomas Paine upon these shores 
was announced in the Gazette in these terms : 

"A being without a home, a being without a country, a 
wretch without character, an incendiary in Europe, an 
incendiary in America, the first reviler of Washington, 
the bosom friend of Jefferson, overshadowed with crimes, 
devoted to most bestial intoxication, the enemy of all 
religion, of all morality, the blasphemer of God, is among 
us." 

The local press, then, as now, gave forth no uncertain 
sound, and was the exponent of the public opinion of the 
people, who delighted to read its editorials and to dis- 
cuss them over a mug of liip. 



^^8 Early Days in the 

When the slow sailing vessel, landing in Boston, 
brought the news of Bonaparte's final downfall, the 
people of the Connecticut valley, who had been watching 
his career with bated breath, gave a sigh of relief. With 
staring headlines the 6^^s^/'/<? announced : 
" Napoleon the Great is fallen. 

" We witness to-day the destruction of a monster whose 
character is not redeemed from execration by a single 
virtue." 

Even the school boys, in their games, which ever 
smacked of war, would not willingly personate this 
"monster," though necessary to make the play complete. 
One youth in Deerfield, having followed the details of 
that fierce warfare on the continent with every emotion 
in stern array against the tyrant of France, produced a 
play, " The Downfall of Bonaparte," which was per- 
formed in Deerfield church, the author himself acting the 
part of Alexander. The play was a success, and the 
career of the youth was also a success, for, as President 
Edward Hitchcock, he brought to Amherst college the 
same courageous spirit that marked the drama, now pre- 
served among the treasures of the library. A boy who 
could write a play, in the time w^hen theatres were con- 
sidered to be places where Satan lay in wait, and could 
persuade the Puritan fathers to allow it to be acted 
within the sacred walls of a New England country 
church, possessed the indomitable courage of the Alexan- 



Connecticut Valley. 4g 

der whom he personated, and who was just then the idol 
of the American people. 

The fast mail coach from Boston brought to Pomeroy's 
tavern news of the great festival held in that city in 
honor of the Czar, and patriots of Massachusetts sang 
in chorus : 

" Then fill to Alexander, 

To him a garland twine, 
While shaded by our oaks, we taste. 

The virtues of the vine, 
And while these oaks adorn our hills, 

Or bear our thunders far, 
Let each soul fill his bowl 
To vict'ry and the Czar, 
And give a loud and long huzza 
To vict'ry and the Czar." 

If these grey rocks which overhang the river could 
only speak, what stories they would tell I What tales of 
Indian and wild beast creeping through the forest where 
stand our homes to-day; of hardship and privation 
endured by those who came out into the wilderness to 
subdue it ; of minute-men with fife and drum and the 
tramp of marching feet called fotth by the gun fired at 
Lexington ; and of a later day, when boys in blue, with 
ranks unbroken, were cheered upon our streets, and 
sent by loyal hearts to preserve the Union which the 
Revolutionary fathers died to establish ! 

The life history of those strong men and true hearted 



50 Early Days in the 

women who lived in the old houses scattered up and 
down the valley, who founded these churches and 
schools, and filled the very air with traditions of their 
wisdom and devotion, can only be imperfectly known by 
us who reap the fruit of their labors. But amid the 
whirl of busy life in which we are entangled, we love to 
stop and think of those old days, when the nation itself 
was young and the book of its history yet unwritten. 
Few of us would care to bring back the manners and 
customs of our forefathers, but we are all proud to 
claim a heritage from the race which then tilled these 
valleys and hunted over these mountains ; and they who 
dwell to-day beside the " Famous river," may well be 
satisfied if posterity shall honor their memory with never 
dying laurels such as forever cling about the names of 
the Puritan ancestors: 

Long years ago, with valiant hearts, on Massachusetts soil. 
Her sturdy sons subdued the earth with endless care and toil ; 
No soldier ever sallied forth with courage more sublime, 
Than did those pioneers of old, in that historic time ; 
They fought the red men on the trail, the wild beast in his lair. 
Famine and cold and dire disease beset them everywhere, 
Yet strong in faith and rich in hope, our brave forefathers 

fought. 
Drew down a blessing from the skies and gained the goal they 

sought. 

The stately forest fell to earth before their conquering tread. 
And squirrels from the old Bay Path in noiseless terror fled, 



Connecticut Valley. 



51 



As, rumbling down to Boston town, above his heavy load. 

The driver urged his horses on along the lonely road. 

Deep shadows crept across the way, the night grew dark and 
chill, 

From heights above came wailing notes of mournful whip-poor- 
will, 

And so, these pioneers of old, whose deeds have oft been sung. 

Secured for us the homes we love, when this old state was 
young. 




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